Max the Performing Horse

This weekend was a busy one for both Max and I to include Max and I performing with the Warhorse Foundation at a fund-raising event for charity at Moonshadow Ranch in Shadow Hills. This was a "debut" of sorts for Max and I in that while we'd practiced off and on the musical ride program that the group uses, it had been quite awhile since we'd done so and I was COMPLETELY rusty at it.

Additonally, because of scheduling issues, the group hadn't practiced the standard musical ride routine so early Saturday morning found us practicing over at Gabriellano Park in the arena (I almost live there, it seems). While Max and I did all the basic moves pretty decently, we were completely messing up on the actually routine (turning the wrong way, mis-judging distances, etc). It also didn't help that Saturday was the real first "hot" day of summer and it was getting miserable by the time we ended practice (after two hours).

Then, there was the issue of logistics. It seems that for every hour actually performing or "doing something", there's three hours preparation. We were scheduled to perform at about 7:30 and were supposed to be at Moonshadow Ranch by 4:30 and we were going to ride over...well, that was the plan anyway.

Due to a number of snafus, it turned out that we were going to trailer the horses over and we didn't actually get on the road until 5 PM. Then there was the task of finding a place to park. There's not a lot of room at Moonshadow Ranch so we wound up parking on a side street behind the ranch and tying up the horses and prepping them on the street (which for a dead-end street was like a major freeway! Go figure...). After having to constantly stop and move the horses to allow cars and trucks to pass, we finally were ready and we rode about two blocks to the entrance. We then had to wait additional time until we were "on".

This was an interesting exercise for Max because our assembly area was basically in the main driveway leading into the ranch and that driveway was pretty narrow so there were people walking past us on both sides and naturally, many wanted to pet Max. Max pretty much tolerated the people (it was a good crowd and many are horse people) and Max seemed to do his best to act charming, hoping to score a carrot or two (what a pimp!). The ladies seemed to especially like him...go figure!

Finally it was our time to go on and we had to make our way down the narrow driveway and then through a crowd to the arena entrance.

We managed to form up properly, just as we'd rehearsed. Unfortunately, the one horse next to Max decided to act up and was completely disagreeable- guess he was excited by the whole thing. This kicked in just as we were starting so while the other rider did her best to keep things under control, I now had to to keep an eye on that situation, while at the same time looking for all my cues and to hit my mark on time.

For the most part, I was able to execute the routine with little problem and while I did make some mistakes, they were not major. It also didn't help having to deal with the disagreeable horse who wouldn't keep his place in line and one other rider who was dragging along at a slow pace, thereby messing up my spacing. Oh well- just goes to show the need for PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!

At several points we had to canter and Max especially liked this part- he was completely "on" and it he seemed to almost be projecting himself, saying "I'm so cool!" to the crowd. The crowd didn't seem to affect him any and he didn't mind riding up close to them at the rail.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post soon but overall it was an excellent experience and hopefully will lead to more and better things.

Now to collect up all my tack that seemed to have gotten scattered about. :-)

Anyone Know a Billionaire Arab Sheik?

Here's an amazing news item:

Billionaire To Fly Cavalry To Abu Dhabi
by Deidre Woollard May 14th 2009 at 7:01PM
England's Household Cavalry Musical Ride display impressed a billionaire Arab sheik that he will be flying 30 horses and riders to Abu Dhabi. The Daily Mail reports that Sheik Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, part of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, has arranged for a specially adapted Boeing 747 jet for the horses to travel in. The riders will travel on business class flights and stay in top hotels and grooms and a vet will also be along for the ride. The trip is estimated to cost £250,000. This will be the first time the unit has traveled outside Europe.

Here's some incredible pictures of the Household Cavalry Performing:

Wow! I wish I could teach Max to do some of this...well at least the lying down. I'm not quite ready to Roman ride yet! :-)

Standing Tall

Way cool!
Standing Tall

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King Ludwig II of Bavaria - RIP

Memorial Cross at the site where the body of Ludwig II was found in the Starnberger Lake

On this day in 1886, King Ludwig II of Bavaria was found dead in Lake Starnberg near Munich under mysterious circumstances. Ludwig II is somewhat of a tragic figure, overtaken by the events of history and largely forgotten today. Here's some more from Wikipedia:

Ludwig II (Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm (August 25, 1845 – June 13, 1886) was king of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death. He is sometimes referred to as the Swan King in English and der Märchenkönig (the Fairy tale King) in German.

Ludwig is sometimes referred to as Mad King Ludwig, though the accuracy of that label has been disputed. Because Ludwig was deposed on grounds of mental illness without any medical examination, and died a day later under mysterious circumstances, questions about the medical "diagnosis" remain controversial.

Ludwig is best known as an eccentric whose legacy is intertwined with the history of art and architecture, as he commissioned the construction of several extravagant fantasy castles (the most famous being Neuschwanstein) and was a devoted patron of the composer Richard Wagner.

Although Ludwig II was criticized for the financial extravagance of building Neuschwanstein, the money brought in from tourism has more than paid for intial construction costs and today it's a major tourist attaction in Bavaria.

Portrait by Gabriel Schachinger, 1887




An 1890s photochrom print of Schloss Neuschwanstein

Army Life c. 1914

Here's a few interesting pictures of Army life that I thought were interesting, especially with the wide variety of uniforms and other detail:

RE: Battleship HMS RodneyNleson Class Battleships

Here's one class of battleship that's relatively little known. One of the most distinct features is that all the main gun turrets, three in total, are located forward which made for an interesting design. The Nelson Class was the product of design compromises due to the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and that was reflected in the turret arrangement.

In particular, I've always found the HMS Rodney to be especialy interesting and it had a varied career to include participating in hunting down the Bismarck. Here's some more from Wikipedia:

The Nelson class was a class of two battleships of the British Royal Navy, built shortly after, and under the terms of, the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. They were the first British battleships built since the Revenge class (ordered in 1913) and their orders were not followed until the King George V class of 1936.

In order that they comply with the limitations of the Washington treaty, these ships were of an unusual design with many novel features. They are often referred to as the first treaty battleships.

The ships were named after famous British admirals: George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent and Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson of the Battles of the Nile and Trafalgar.

The Battle of Jutland had shown the value of firepower and protection over speed and manoeuvrability.[citation needed] Admiral J.A. Fisher's dictum that "speed is armour" had been tested in battle and proved false.[citation needed] Thickness of armour and weight of shell were now seen as the keys to naval victory.

The next generation of British warships incorporated this lesson. After the First World War, the Admiralty drew up plans for massive, heavily armoured battlecruisers and battleships, far larger and stronger than all previous vessels. The G3 battlecruisers would carry 16-inch (406 mm) guns, and the proposed N3 battleships would carry nine 18-inch (457 mm) guns, and would be the most powerful vessels afloat. The Royal Navy was planning to hold its superiority in the burgeoning arms race, despite the large warships planned in Japan and the United States.

Development was abruptly curtailed by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, which brought the arms race to a halt. The four battlecruisers that had been ordered were cancelled. Some of the material acquired would later be used in Nelson and Rodney. The Treaty limited all nations' battleships to 35,000 tons and 16-inch guns. The British had successfully ensured that the definition of maximum displacement - the "standard displacement" - excluded both fuel and boiler feed water. They had argued that policing the widespread British Empire meant their ships had to carry more of both and they should not be penalised against nations, such as France and Italy, that operated much closer to their naval bases. As a result, water-filled internal anti-torpedo bulges could be incorporated, contributing only the "dry" (standard) weights and therefore not to the treaty limits.

The limits of the treaty inevitably led to compromises in the design of two new ships, and the resulting Nelsons class sacrificed installed power (and hence speed) in order that they be well-armed and defended. They were often referred to as the "Cherry Tree class", because they had been "cut down by Washington". The need to limit displacement resulted in a radical new warship design, drawing from the G3 and N3 designs. In order to reduce the weight of armour, the main gun turrets were mounted all forward, shortening the necessary armoured length. The G3 and N3s had put the two turrets forward of and one behind the bridge, but in the Nelsons, this was taken to extremes, and all three were in front of the bridge; 'B' was mounted superfiring over 'A', with 'Q' turret at the main deck level behind 'B', and therefore unable to fire directly forward or aft. The secondary guns were placed in weatherproof, director-controlled turrets at the main deck level and were grouped aft - another innovative element borrowed from the G3 and N3 design.

Armour weight was also limited by using an internal, inclined armour belt. The slope increased the relative width of the belt to a striking projectile. The internal disposition was intended to provide a low-resistance path in order to vent torpedo explosions out of the ship via displaceable plates, although this feature would prove to be unsuccessful. The external hull of the ship was unarmoured: the outer plating was meant to initiate detonation of shells which would then explode outside the armour. The armour scheme was of the "all or nothing" principle; areas were either well protected or were not protected at all, disposing of the multiple intermediate thickness of armour seen in older designs. For the first time a British battleship had a single, thick armoured deck to protect against plunging shells and aircraft-dropped bombs.

The machinery was of necessity limited in weight, size and installed power, and there were only two shafts; all previous British battleships since HMS Dreadnought of 1906 had four. In order that flue gasses be kept clear of the superstructure, the boiler rooms were moved behind the engine rooms, exhausting into a single funnel - another feature unique in British battleships. As a gesture to the limited power, the hull was of an efficient hydrodynamic form, to gain the best possible speed.

The large superstructure, which was triangular in plan, was sometimes referred to as the "Queen Anne's Mansions", from its similarity to a 14-storey brick residential development of the same name, opposite St. James's Park underground railway station in London. The superstructure provided spacious, weatherproof working spaces for the navigating officers and any flag officers embarked. Other than an emergency conning tower at its base, and the trunking for the main gun directors mounted on top, it was lightly armoured against splinters only, to save weight. Weight-saving measures included the use of light materials such as aluminium for fittings, and fir instead of teak for deck planking, although in practice teak decks were fitted in the 1920s, following concerns that the ships could not fire a full broadside without causing structural damage to the decks.

The Nelson class was a compromise design, and unsurprisingly there were shortcomings. The rear location of the superstructure caused manoeuvrability problems in high winds, with the superstructure acting as something of a sail, causing the ships to "weathervane" when steaming at low speeds. This was a particularly dangerous problem in crowded harbours, and the ships were difficult to dock and embark. They were also difficult to turn, and hard to steer when steaming astern. This is attributable to having twin screws and a single centre rudder which was out of the propeller race. However at sea they were reported to handle well.

The inclined armour disposition increased the danger of shells diving under the armour belt. With wave motion along the side of the ship, with the ship rolling, or with a list caused by damage, the ship would have been at risk of shells passing almost unhindered into its vitals.[citation needed] In publicly-released information, the Admiralty always showed the inclined armour to be much deeper than was actually the case.

Their main armament of 16-inch (406 mm) guns were mounted in triple turrets, the only RN battleships with this feature. The guns themselves were a step away from standard British designs. Where previous RN weapons fired heavy shells at a moderate velocity, the Nelson's weapons followed the German practice of a lighter shell at a higher velocity. This change in policy was due to British post-war testing of German equipment, although subsequent testing proved contradictory and these weapons were never considered to be as successful as the previous BL 15 inch Mark I. The guns suffered considerable barrel wear and had a large dispersion pattern. As a result their muzzle velocities were lowered which reduced their penetrative power. A heavier shell was needed to offset this, but the cost of producing new shells, and modifying shell handling and storage equipment, had come at a time when RN funding had been heavily reduced. The need to reduce weight and the use of triple mount turrets led to problems with the ammunition handling and loading machinery. The incorporation of many safety features achieved with lighter materials meant that the complex but relatively fragile equipment had to be worked on constantly over the ships' lifetime. These ships were fitted with the HACS AA fire control system and the Admiralty Fire Control Table Mk I for surface fire control of the main armament.

Finally, the blast of the guns disrupted officers on the bridge to such an extent that the guns were usually prohibited from firing abaft of the beam. A great deal of effort was expended in correcting this problem, and no solution was ever found; fitting tempered glass in the bridge window ports was tried, but gun blast shattered them and filled the bridge with flying debris.

There is a long-standing rumor that the ships could not fire a broadside (all guns in unison) in case of structural damage to the deck. This was disproved in Rodneys action with the German battleship Bismarck, where broadsides were fired without adverse effect.


HMS Nelson off Spithead for Fleet Review, prewar.


HMS Rodney firing towards Caen in support of the Normandy landings, June 1944


HMS Rodney, 1933

Evening Ride

Last night, a friend and I went for a ride around the lake in the Hansen Dam basin. It was a pretty low-key ride but there were some good opportunities for Max to become further de-sensitized since we would be passing by a vey busy set of soccer fields and a crowded parking lot.

Max performed flawlessly and all the various people running around and flying soccer balls didn't seem to faz him any. After working our way past the soccer fields and through a series of parking lots, we made our way along the base of Hansem Dam. At several points we were passed by kids riding bikes and pleasantly enough, Max didn't react at al. My theory in regard to this issue is that it must be more of a space issue than anything else. I note that the times he has blown up at bikes, it's been on narrow trails or fire roads- it must puncture his comfort zone. I think the thing to do now is to work on getting Max used to getting closer to moving bikes where he won't feel threatened.

This was one of the few times that I can say that a ride was completely relaxing for both Max and I. :-)

Kagel Canyon and Beyond

Last night we hit the trail again with a friend of mine. Just for variety, my compadre suggested taking a new (for me) path leading through Kagel Canyon, which is to the west of where I stable, and then pick up the fire road and make a loop similar to that of the Lookout Trail.

Naturally I agreed so we snaked our way down a series of bridal paths and made our way to Kagel Canyon. It's hard to describe but essentially Kagel Canyon is a tight canyon with lots of Oak trees and VERY narrow streets which we had to follow for awhile. It sort of reminds me of a scaled-down Topanga Canyon with lots more horses. However, while I like the rustic feel, it's also a fire trap waiting to explode and in places you can tell where the Merek fire from last October burned down to- good luck getting out of there quickly!

Max handled this all with no problems- marching in parades over pavement seems to have had a good effect and he didn't flinch even when passing people with baby carriages and noisy dogs.

Eventually we wound up at a park called Dexter Park and at the extreme northwest end, there's an entrance to the fire road. Basically, it merges with the main fire road and if I'd taken a right turn, I would have been heading towards the extreme slope that I described previously in regard to riding Lookout Trail.

We then followed the fire road along the ridge and eventually wound up at the ranger station. If it wasn't getting dark, we could have followed the rest of the Audry Trail.

This wasn't an exciting trail ride but it was relaxing and Max just took everything in stride (which is perfect to me!). It also provided some good training in riding in the dusky/dark conditions, something that's always valuable.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures soon and when I do, I'll post them.

Back Into Training

After a two-hiatus due to conflicting schedules, Max and I returned to our weekly lessons last night. Last night's lesson focused on transitions and leg yields (naturally!).

For transitions, the emphasis was on canter-halts and canter-walks and these are not easy. The toughest part is that it's a lot easier to come to a complete halt than it is to drop down into a forward walk, especially since you are also trying to remain balanced and keep the horse's energy up by keeping your legs on.

We also worked on better integrating the half-halt into these maneuvers. Not only does the half-halt slow the horse down, but it also warns them that they need to be paying attention because "something's coming up". Without it, canter-halts and walks tend to be sharp and abrupt with the horse balancing on the fore-end. The whole idea is to keep the horse balanced, especially on the haunches.

I definitely need to work on my half-halts because my tendency is to keep the pressure on rather than distinctly releasing the bit- it's sort of like driving a car with both the brakes and accelerator on at the same time. The trick is to use a combination of breath pushing down the diaphragm with a slight kicking up with the legs and a brief tightening on the bit. Everything has to be coordinated so that the horse feels a distinct action from you- basically communication.

For me, half-halts tend to work better at the walk and trot. At the canter, it's a bit more tough, especially when you want to slow down the canter. I tend to either not apply enough pressure or way too much resulting in a halt or dropping out of the canter.

Leg yielding went pretty good although I need to make my left leg work harder. Here, like in a lot of riding maneuvers, one had to keep their weight behind the vertical (i.e. lean a bit to the rear). The normal tendency is to lean forward, especially when using the breath control with the half-halt. It all comes down to controlling the various parts of the body independently from ear other.

It looks like I've got some homework to do and this will come in handy on all sorts of places- trail riding AND parades.

Up to the Sheep Pens (Again)

Riding-wise, last Sunday found me at loose ends with nothing scheduled. Well, as luck would have it, three of my friends were getting ready to head off on a trail ride so they were nice to wait while I quickly tacked up Max.

It was an overcast but pleasant morning so we decided to ride up to the sheep pens and then over to an old abandoned eventing course located just to the west of the sheep pens. Since we've ridden together quite a bit and the horses know each other, we decided to move out at a trot (consistent with common-sense regard for safety). While most people associate walking with trail riding, you can also use other gaits and in fact, I prefer to trot a good part of the time, if I can, while on the trail- the idea of walking for four or more hours is not appealing- I have to mix it up (Max also likes it).

While riding, we made use of the situation to hone our trail riding skills and especially in changing up each of the horse's positions in the file- this can often be a problem if a horse doesn't like being in the rear or middle of the file. Max did very well here and actually, all the horses did well- but they're used to it.

We finally arrived at the sheep pens and after allowing the horses a small break, we proceeded to check out the old eventing course. The trail connecting the various obstacles was to a great degree over-grown but it wasn't bad. Apparently this course used to be used by Middle Ranch but they opted to stop leasing the land for the course when the price of liability insurance went up. Since then the course has never been used and it's just lapsed back into a wild state.

It was interesting following the course and I could just imagine what it used to be like when it was in use...and I can imagine just how dangerous. There were some pretty extreme jumps and landings- stuff I'd never attempt with Max (or with any other horse, call me a wimp).

After following the course, we made our way back to the stables. One the way back, Max naturally got a bit more forceful about wanting to move out fast for home, regardless of the other horses but that was dealt with pretty quickly. Overall, an excellent trail ride.

Burbank Parade Pictures

At last, some pictures from Max's first parade:


Max and I getting ready for the big event...


Warhorse & Militaria Foundation getting judged.


Yay! We won First Place in the mounted military category. Very cool!


Marching down Olive Avenue. It was a pretty wide street which made things easy for Max.


Heading towards our end point- the parade is over by this point.


Here we are doing some manuevers to entertain the crowd.